Swiss Re Civilian Service Prize (Milizpreis) 2012

At a ceremony on 8 May 2012, Walter B. Kielholz, Chairman of Swiss Re, awarded the 2012 Civilian Service Prize (Milizpreis) to Peter Schuppli, founder and president of the "Tele D" foundation, a private television station in Eastern Switzerland. The station has been broadcasting since 1985 and is staffed entirely by volunteers.

English

The Swiss Re Civilian Service Prize is awarded annually by the Chairman of Swiss Re to a person who, beside his or her professional career, devotes substantial time and energy to a noncareer-related commitment for the public good. The Milizpreis award is CHF 40,000.

The award ceremony for the 12th edition of the Swiss Re Civilian Service Prize took place at the Swiss Re Centre for Global Dialogue. Former Federal Councillor Adolf Ogi gave a keynote address in which he highlighted Peter Schuppli's role as a TV pioneer and underlined the importance of volunteer work. He sees such commitments as part of the glue that holds a civil society together.

Peter Schuppli's main job is a school teacher. He founded the private TV station "Tele D – Lokalfernsehen Diessenhofen" in 1985. At the time, it was the very first regional TV station. It has no full-time employees and is manned entirely by 35 hobby broadcasters who volunteer to produce around 300 programmes a year. Its main financing sources are the foundation members, contributions from municipalities in the broadcasting area and sponsorship donations. This set-up, coupled with the absence of any commercial advertising, enables the station to remain completely independent. Today, it reaches an audience of approximately 250,000 across the cantons of Schaffhausen, Thurgau and parts of St. Gallen.

The "Tele D" Foundation board comprises well-known names in Switzerland, among them comedian Viktor Giacobbo and entrepreneur and member of parliament Peter Spuhler. Among its many VIP visitors, the station has not only welcomed virtually all current members of the Swiss Federal Council but has also featured international guests like Ulrich Tilgner, Middle East correspondent, and Jakob Kellenberger, President of the ICRC.

When asked about the "secret of his success" Peter Schuppli replied: "We are a station where you can still finish your sentence and where the plug on the micro isn't pulled after 25 seconds".

In his address, Walter Kielholz explained that the outstanding accomplishment of this year's Milizpreis winner was that he had brought together a large group of people in a complex technical environment to create a product of recognized high quality – and that he had been doing this successfully for over 25 years.

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